believe, later we deuced bypresidentobama. ihave a question to you about this. was the russian government consulted or informed that the united states was considering this decision before the decision was made, and if so, when did that occur? >> the answer is not to my knowledge. it was not russian government who was not consulted in any way, and it was not that decision, that policy was not decided based on any consideration of the russian government. incidentally, i addthat those als not yeally lasted, but some ar in -- california. >> okay. to your tog, they were not cop culted? if the department decides additional missile defense systems were needed to be deployed for the protection of the united states, whether domestically or abroad, would the russian government be consulted or informed before that decision was made? >> well, first, i can't answer for the president. that would be a decision for the president to make. i suspect have to reinvolve around treaty obligations, and we have before with other issues might be. >> in mah, the government requested meetings to take ac

presidentobamacommanderin chief is committed to the spending plans help get these capabilities contract o lre further delays. >> to include extended deterrence and our capability and to maintain a safe and secure and reliable stockpile. i said that in my confirmation here. >> it's good to see you. there is talk around a result of us passing the defense appropriation for the rest of the fiscal year. there is now talk that you can reduce the furlough days for the defense civilians from 14 to seven is that true? >> they send out notification to the congress to comply with the law that we were considering furloughing the take on it was maybe as much as 21 days we are going to be required we have now got that down to 20 or 14. we are still reviewing what actions we may have to take. we are probably a couple of weeks away from coing ta determination on whatt furlough would be and the congress of course will be fully informed, kept informed on any decisions we need to make to comply with the budget restraints. with that let me ask the comptroller if he has anything. >> we haven't made a decision

are the tni briefedpresidentobamaorsecretary clinton about the two preceding 11.cks in benghazi prior to >> i did not personally rifed on come but we certainly were porticos of all of our intelligence vehicles. >> are your intelligence vehicles included the prior attacks on the consulate? >> yes. >> do believe the intelligence community of the situation in benghazi? >> we had a general idea of the situation in eastern libya. we probably didn't have the fidelity on the exact situation in benghazi, but we certainly know the lack of control the central government had over the militias and not part of the country. that continued even after the fall of gadhafi. >> he said that briefings prepared by the tni talked about the prior attacks a reference in april and june prior to sebettack al inclu thesmen the british closing their facility. e those thef intelligence reported that the chain of command despite not having a specific conversation? just to be clear,e didn't have any specific conversations with secretary clinton about this issue? >> we had many conversations about it. i don't recall

obama's administrationofficials surprised in recent weeks with an amended approach to syria. we don't want an outright rebel military victory right now because in the words of one senior official quote the good guys may not come out on top. >> well, if that depends on your definition of good guys. certainly the jihadist the sunni dominated groups, the fighting groups and the opposition most notable on its way to terms of size have recently pledged allegiance to al qaeda. that is a great concern. they are present in 13 of the 14 provinces in iran and are starting to establish municipal services providing humanitarian aid, food, hospitals and sharia law. >> do you think all this might've been avoided if we hadn't sat by and watched it happen? i thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you senator mccain. senator reid. >> thank you very much . chrman and thank you gentlemen for not only her testimony but your service. the issue at front and center is sequestration and i just have a more procedural question. first of all as i understand it your appropriation is part of the defense of her patien